It is a time of fear in the face of freedom, a time of an emptying country and swelling cities, a time for the widening of previous roads and the opening of new paths, yet a time when these paths are mined by knowing algorithms of the all-seeing eye. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection. These are the times when maps fade, old landmarks crumble and direction is lost. Forwards is backwards now, so we glance sideways at the strange lands through which we are all passing, knowing for certain only that our destination has disappeared. We are unready to meet these times, but we proceed nonetheless, adapting as we wander, reshaping the Earth with every tread. Behind us we have left the old times, the standard times, the high times. Welcome to the irregular times.

Bush Spying Was Really Big, Brother

Breaking news (on a Friday in summertime, which means they hope you’ll forget about it): An inspectors general report reveals that the spying programs begun under George W. Bush, and continued under Barack Obama, are much, much larger than has been previously revealed.

These inspectors general are the ones concocted under the FISA Amendments Act, which legalized massive electronic surveillance and warrantless physical search powers in the government, used against American citizens. When Barack Obama broke his promise last year and decided to vote for the FISA Amendments Act after all, Democrats justified Obama’s betrayal by saying that these inspectors general would have the power to reveal what was really going on in the spying program, and that, surely, would keep us safe.

Now, the inspectors general tell us that we’re being spied against a lot – a whole lot – but they say that we can’t be told how we’re being watched by our government. How does that protect us from the spying? These inspectors general are toothless.

Associated Press writer Pamela Hess tries to explain why the inspectors general won’t tell us how Bush and Obama are violating our constitutional rights: The spy programs are “still too secret to reveal” she says.

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